Interior design is "the art or process of designing the interior decoration of a room or building".[1][2] An interior designer is someone who coordinates and manages such projects. Interior design is a multifaceted profession that includes conceptual development, communicating with the stakeholders of a project and the management and execution of the design.

History

In the past, interiors were put together instinctively as a part of the process of building.[2] The profession of interior design has been a consequence of the development of society and the complex architecture that has resulted from the development of industrial processes. The pursuit of effective use of space, user well-being and functional design has contributed to the development of the contemporary interior design profession.[3]

In ancient India, architects used to work as interior designers. This can be seen from the references of Vishwakarma the architect - one of the gods in Indian mythology. Additionally, the sculptures depicting ancient texts and events are seen in palaces built in 17th century India.

Throughout the 17th and 18th century, and into the early 19th Century, interior decoration was the concern of the homemaker or, an employed upholsterer or craftsman who would advise on the artistic style for an interior space. Architects would also employ craftsmen or artisans to complete interior design for their buildings.

Commercial interior design and management

In the mid- to late-19th century, interior design services expanded greatly, as the middle class in industrial countries grew in size and prosperity and began to desire the domestic trappings of wealth to cement their new status. Large furniture firms began to branch out into general interior design and management, offering full house furnishings in a variety of styles. This business model flourished from the mid-century to 1914, when this role was increasingly usurped by independent, often amateur, designers. This paved the way for the emergence of the professional interior design in the mid-20th century.[4]

In the 1850s and 1860s, upholsterers began to expand their business remits. They framed their business more broadly and in artistic terms and began to advertise their furnishings to the public. To meet the growing demand for contract interior work on projects such as offices, hotels, and public buildings, these businesses became much larger and more complex, employing builders, joiners, plasterers, textile designers, artists, and furniture designers, as well as engineers and technicians to fulfil the job. Firms began to publish and circulate catalogs with prints for different lavish styles to attract the attention of expanding middle classes.[4]

As department stores increased in number and size, retail spaces within shops were furnished in different styles as examples for customers. One particularly effective advertising tool was to set up model rooms at national and international exhibitions in showrooms for the public to see. Some of the pioneering firms in this regard were Waring & Gillow, James Shoolbred, Mintons and Holland & Sons. These traditional high-quality furniture making firms began to play an important role as advisers to unsure middle class customers on taste and style, and began taking out contracts to design and furnish the interiors of many important buildings in Britain.[5]

This type of firm emerged in America after the Civil War. The Herter Brothers, founded by two German emigre brothers, began as an upholstery warehouse and became one of the first firms of furniture makers and interior decorators. With their own design office and cabinet-making and upholstery workshops, Herter Brothers were prepared to accomplish every aspect of interior furnishing including decorative paneling and mantels, wall and ceiling decoration, patterned floors and carpets and draperies.[6]

Illustration from The Grammar of Ornament (1856), by interior designer Owen Jones.

A pivotal figure in popularizing theories of interior design to the middle class was the architect Owen Jones, one of the most influential design theorists of the nineteenth century.[7] Jones first project was his most important - in 1851 he was responsible for not only the decoration of Joseph Paxton’s gigantic Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition, but also for the arrangement of the exhibits within. He chose a controversial palette of red, yellow and blue for the interior ironwork and, despite initial negative publicity in the newspapers, was eventually unveiled by Queen Victoria to much critical acclaim. His most significant work was The Grammar of Ornament (1856),[8] in which Jones formulated 37 key principles of interior design and decoration.

Jones was employed by some of the leading interior design firms of the day; in the 1860s he worked in collaboration with the London firm Jackson & Graham to produce furniture and other fittings for high-profile clients including art collector Alfred Morrison and the Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha.

Transition to professional interior design

This interior was designed by John Dibblee Crace, President of the Institute of British Decorators, established in 1899.

By the turn of the 20th century, amateur advisors and publications were increasingly challenging the monopoly that the large retail companies had on interior design. English feminist author Mary Haweis wrote a series of widely read essays in the 1880s in which she derided the eagerness with which aspiring middle-class people furnished their houses according to the rigid models offered to them by the retailers.[10] She advocated the individual adoption of a particular style, tailor made to the individual needs and preferences of the customer:

One of my strongest convictions, and one of the first canons of good taste, is that our houses, like the fish’s shell and the bird’s nest, ought to represent our individual taste and habits.

The move towards decoration as a separate artistic profession unrelated to the manufacturers and retailers, received an impetus with the 1899 formation of the Institute of British Decorators; with John Dibblee Crace as its president it represented almost 200 decorators around the country.[11] By 1915, the London Directory listed 127 individuals trading as interior decorators, of which 10 were women. Rhoda and Agnes Garrett were the first women to train professionally as home decorators in 1874. The importance of their work on design was regarded at the time as on a par with that of William Morris. In 1876, their work - Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Woodwork and Furniture - spread their ideas on artistic interior design to a wide middle-class audience.[12]

By 1900, the situation was described by The Illustrated Carpenter and Builder:

Until recently when a man wanted to furnish he would visit all the dealers and select piece by piece of furniture ....Today he sends for a dealer in art furnishings and fittings who surveys all the rooms in the house and he brings his artistic mind to bear on the subject.[13]

In America, Candace Wheeler was one of the first woman interior designers and helped encourage a new style of American design. She was instrumental in the development of art courses for women in a number of major American cities and was considered a national authority on home decoration. An important influence on the new profession was The Decoration of Houses, a manual of interior design written by Edith Wharton with architect Ogden Codman in 1897 in America. In the book, the authors denounced Victorian-style interior decoration and interior design, especially those rooms that were decorated with heavy window curtains, Victorian bric-a-brac and overstuffed furniture. They argued that such rooms emphasized upholstery at the expense of proper space planning and architectural design and were, therefore, uncomfortable and rarely used.The book is considered a seminal work and its success led to the emergence of professional decorators working in the manner advocated by its authors, most notably Elsie de Wolfe.[14]

Elsie De Wolfe was one of the first female interior designers. Rejecting the Victorian style she grew up with, she chose a more vibrant scheme, along with more comfortable furniture in the home. Her designs were light, with fresh colors and delicate Chinoiserie furnishings, as opposed to the Victorian preference of heavy, red drapes and upholstery, dark wood and intensely patterned wallpapers. Her designs were also more practical;[15] she eliminated the clutter that occupied the Victorian home, enabling people to entertain more guests comfortably. In 1905, de Wolfe was commissioned for the interior design of the Colony Club on Madison Avenue; its interiors garnered her recognition almost over night.[16][17] She compiled her ideas into her widely read 1913 book, The House in Good Taste.[18]

In England, Syrie Maugham became a legendary interior designer credited with designing the first all-white room. Starting her career in the early 1910s, her international reputation soon grew; she later expanded her business to New York and Chicago.[19] Born during the Victorian Era, a time characterized by dark colors and small spaces, she instead designed rooms filled with light and furnished in multiple shades of white and mirrored screens. In addition to mirrored screens, her trademark pieces included: books covered in white vellum, cutlery with white porcelain handles, console tables with plaster palm-frond, shell, or dolphin bases, upholstered and fringed sleigh beds, fur carpets, dining chairs covered in white leather, and lamps of graduated glass balls, and wreaths.[20]

Expansion

The interior design profession became more established after World War II. From the 1950s onwards spending on the home increased. Interior design courses were established, requiring the publication of textbooks and reference sources. Historical accounts of interior designers and firms distinct from the decorative arts specialists were made available. Organisations to regulate education, qualifications, standards and practices, etc. were established for the profession.[18]

Interior design was previously seen as playing a secondary role to architecture. It also has many connections to other design disciplines, involving the work of architects, industrial designers, engineers, builders, craftsmen, etc. For these reasons the government of interior design standards and qualifications was often incorporated into other professional organisations that involved design.[18] Organisations such as the Chartered Society of Designers, established in the UK in 1986, and the American Designers Institute, founded in 1938, were established as organisations that governed various areas of design.

It was not until later that specific representation for the interior design profession was developed. The US National Society of Interior Designers was established in 1957, while in the UK the Interior Decorators and Designers Association was established in 1966. Across Europe, other organisations such as The Finnish Association of Interior Architects (1949) were being established and in 1994 the International Interior Design Association was founded.[18]

Ellen Mazur Thomson, author of Origins of Graphic Design in America (1997), determined that professional status is achieved through education, self-imposed standards and professional gate-keeping organizations.[18] Having achieved this, interior design became an accepted profession.

Interior decorators and interior designers

Interior design in a restaurant

An interior designer is a designer who designs interior spaces. The profession of interior design is not clearly defined and projects undertaken by an interior designer vary widely. Terms such as decorator and designer are often used interchangeably. However, there is a distinction between the terms that relates to the scope of work performed, the level of education achieved, and often, professional accreditation as an interior designer.

Interior designer

Interior Designer implies that there is more of an emphasis on Planning, Functional design and effective use of space involved in this profession, as compared to interior decorating. An interior designer can undertake projects that include arranging the basic layout of spaces within a building as well as projects that require an understanding of technical issues such as acoustics, lighting, temperature, etc.[2] Although an interior designer may create the layout of a space, they may not alter load-bearing walls without having their designs stamped for approval by an architect. Interior Designers often work directly with architectural firms.

An interior designer may wish to specialize in a particular type of interior design in order to develop technical knowledge specific to that area. Types of interior design include residential design, commercial design, hospitality design, healthcare design, universal design, exhibition design, spatial branding, etc. The profession of Interior Design is relatively new, constantly evolving, and often confusing to the public. It is an art form that is consistently changing and evolving. Not only is it an art, but it also relies on research from many fields to provide a well-trained designer's understanding of how people are influenced by their environments. NCIDQ, the board for Interior Design qualifications, defines the profession in the best way:

Specialties

Residential

Residential design is the design of the interior of private residences. As this type design is very specific for individual situations, the needs and wants of the individual are paramount in this area of interior design. The interior designer may work on the project from the initial planning stage or may work on the remodelling of an existing structure. It is often a very involved process that takes months to fine tune and create a space with the vision of the client.[21] Fine examples of contemporary designers include Kelly Hoppen and David Collins who in keeping with current trends have both a strong media presence and successful independent business.

Industrial facilities: manufacturing and training facilities as well as import and export facilities.[21]

Teaching in a private institute that offer classes of Interior Design

Self-Employment

Employment in private sector firms

Other

Other areas of specialisation include amusement and theme park design, museum and exhibition design, event design (including ceremonies, weddings, baby and bridal showers, parties, conventions and concerts), interior and prop styling, tablescape design, theatre and performance design, stage and set design, production design for film and television. Beyond those, interior designers, particularly those with graduate education, can specialize in healthcare design, gerontological design, educational facility design, and other areas that require specialized knowledge. Some university programs offer graduate studies in theses and other areas. For example, both Cornell University and University of Florida offer interior design graduate programs in environment and behavior studies. Within this at University of Florida, students may choose a specific focus such as retirement community design (under Dr. Nichole Campbell) co-housing (Dr. Maruja Torres) or theft prevention by design (Prof. Candy Carmel-Gilfilen) (Campbell, 2012, Personal Communication).

Profession

Education

There are various paths that one can take to become a professional interior designer. All of these paths involve some form of training. Working with a successful professional designer is an informal method of training and has previously been the most common method of education. In many states, however, this path alone cannot lead to licensing as a professional interior designer. Training through an institution such as a college, art or design school or university is a more formal route to professional practice.

A formal education program, particularly one accredited by or developed with a professional organisation of interior designers, can provide training that meets a minimum standard of excellence and therefore gives a student an education of a high standard. There are also university graduate and Ph.d. programs available for those seeking further training in a specific design specialization (I.e. gerontological design or healthcare design) or those wishing to teach interior design at the university level.

Working conditions

There are a wide range of working conditions and employment opportunities within interior design. Large and tiny corporations often hire interior designers as employees on regular working hours. Designers for smaller firms usually work on a contract or per-job basis. Self-employed designers, which make up 26% of interior designers,[22] usually work the most hours. Interior designers often work under stress to meet deadlines, stay on budget, and meet clients' needs.

In some cases, licensed professionals review the work and sign it before submitting the design for approval by clients or construction permisioning. The need for licensed review and signature varies by locality, relevant legislation, and scope of work. Their work can involve significant travel to visit different locations, however with technology development, the process of contacting clients and communicating design alternatives has become easier and requires less travel.[23] They also renovate a space to satisfy the specific taste for a client.

Styles

Art Deco

The Art Deco style began in Europe in the early years of the 20th century, with the waning of Art Nouveau. The term "Art Deco" was taken from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, a world’s fair held in Paris in 1925.[24] Art Deco rejected many traditional classical influences in favour of more streamlined geometric forms and metallic color. The Art Deco style influenced all areas of design, especially interior design, because it was the first style of interior decoration to spotlight new technologies and materials.[25]

Art Deco style is mainly based on geometric shapes, streamlining and clean lines.[26][27] The style offered a sharp, cool look of mechanized living utterly at odds with anything that came before.[28]

Art Deco rejected traditional materials of decoration and interior design, opting instead to use more unusual materials such as chrome, glass, stainless steel, shiny fabrics, mirrors, aluminium, lacquer, inlaid wood, sharkskin, and zebra skin.[25] The use of harder, metallic materials was chosen to celebrate the machine age. These materials reflected the dawning modern age that was ushered in after the end of the First World War. The innovative combinations of these materials created contrasts that were very popular at the time - for example the mixing together of highly polished wood and black lacquer with satin and furs.[29] The barber shop in the Austin Reed store in London was designed by P. J. Westwood. It was soon regarded as the trendiest barber shop in Britain due to its use of metallic materials.[28]

The color themes of Art Deco consisted of metallic color, neutral color, bright color and, black and white. In interior design, cool metallic colors including silver, gold, metallic blue, charcoal grey and platinum tended to predominate.[26][30]Serge Chermayeff, a Russian-born British designer made extensive use of cool metallic colors and luxurious surfaces in his room schemes. His 1930 showroom design for a British dressmaking firm had a silver-grey background and black mirrored-glass wall panels.[28][31]

Black and white was also a very popular color scheme during the 1920s and 1930s. Black and white checkerboard tiles, floors and wallpapers were very trendy at the time.[32] As the style developed, bright vibrant colors became popular as well.[33]

Art Deco Furnishings and lighting fixtures had a glossy, luxurious appearance with the use of inlaid wood and reflective finishes. The furniture pieces often had curved edges, geometric shapes and clean lines.[24][28] Art Deco lighting fixtures tended to make use of stacked geometric patterns.[34]

Arab Materials

“Majlis painting”, also called nagash painting is the decoration of the majlis or front parlor of traditional Arabic homes in the Asir province of Saudi Arabia and adjoining parts of Yemen These wall paintings, an arabesque form of mural or fresco, show various geometric designs in bright colors: “Called 'nagash' in Arabic, the wall paintings were a mark of pride for a woman in her house.” [35]

The geometric designs and heavy lines seem to be adapted from the area’s textile and weaving patterns. “In contrast with the sobriety of architecture and decoration in the rest of Arabia, exuberant color and ornamentation characterize those of 'Asir. The painting extends into the house over the walls and doors, up the staircases, and onto the furniture itself. When a house is being painted, women from the community help each other finish the job. The building then displays their shared taste and knowledge. Mothers pass these on to their daughters. This artwork is based on a geometry of straight lines and suggests the patterns common to textile weaving, with solid bands of different colors. Certain motifs reappear, such as the triangular mihrab or 'niche' and the palmette. In the past, paint was produced from mineral and vegetable pigments. Cloves and alfalfa yielded green. Blue came from the indigo plant. Red came from pomegranates and a certain mud. Paintbrushes were created from the tough hair found in a goat's tail. Today, however, women use modern manufactured paint to create new looks, which have become an indicator of social and economic change.”[36]

Women in the Asir province often complete the decoration and painting of the house interior. “You could tell a family’s wealth by the paintings,” Um Abdullah says: “If they didn’t have much money, the wife could only paint the motholath,” the basic straight, simple lines, in patterns of three to six repetitions in red, green, yellow and brown.” When women did not want to paint the walls themselves, they could barter with other women who would do the work. Several Saudi women have become famous as majlis painters, such as Fatima Abou Gahas.[35]

The interior walls of the home are brightly painted by the women, who work in defined patterns with lines, triangles, squares, diagonals and tree-like patterns. “Some of the large triangles represent mountains. Zigzag lines stand for water and also for lightning. Small triangles, especially when the widest area is at the top, are found in pre-Islamic representations of female figures. That the small triangles found in the wall paintings in ‘Asir are called banat may be a cultural remnant of a long-forgotten past.” [35]

"Courtyards and upper pillared porticoes are principal features of the best Nadjdi architecture, in addition to the fine incised plaster wood (jiss) and painted window shutters, which decorate the reception rooms. Good examples of plasterwork can often be seen in the gaping ruins of torn-down buildings- the effect is light, delicate and airy. It is usually around the majlis, around the coffee hearth and along the walls above where guests sat on rugs, against cushions. Doughty wondered if this "parquetting of jis", this "gypsum fretwork... all adorning and unenclosed" originated from India. However, the Najd fretwork seems very different from that seen in the Eastern Province and Oman, which are linked to Indian traditions, and rather resembles the motifs and patterns found in ancient Mesopotamia. The rosette, the star, the triangle and the stepped pinnacle pattern of dadoes are all ancient patterns, and can be found all over the Middle East of antiquity. Al-Qassim Province seems to be the home of this art, and there it is normally worked in hard white plaster (though what you see is usually begrimed by the smoke of the coffee hearth). In Riyadh, examples can be seen in unadorned clay."[37]

Japanese materials

Japanese design is based strongly on craftsmanship, beauty, elaboration, and delicacy. The design of interiors is very simple but made with attention to detail and intricacy. This sense of intricacy and simplicity in Japanese designs is still valued in modern Japan as it was in traditional Japan.

Japanese interior design is very efficient in the use of resources. Traditional and modern Japanese interiors have been flexible in use and designed mostly with natural materials. The spaces are used as multifunctional rooms. The rooms can be opened to create more space for an occasion or more private and closed-off by pulling closed paper screens called shoji. A large portion of Japanese interior walls are often made of shoji screens that can be pushed opened to join two rooms together, and then close them allowing more privacy. The shoji screens are made of paper attached in thin wooden frames that roll away on a track when they are pushed opened. Another large importance of the shoji screen besides privacy and seclusion is that they allow light through. This is an important aspect to Japanese design. Paper translucent walls allow light to be diffused through the space and create light shadows and patterns. Another way to connect rooms in Japan’s interiors is through Sliding panels made of wood and paper, like the shoji screens, or cloth. These panels are called Fusuma and are used as an entire wall. They are traditionally hand painted.[38]

Tatami mats are rice straw floor mats often used as the actual floor in Japan’s interiors; although in modern Japan, there usually are only one or two tatami rooms. A Tokonoma is often present in traditional, as well as modern Japanese living rooms. This determines the focus of the room and displays Japanese art; usually a painting or calligraphy. Interiors are very simple, highlighting minimal and natural decoration. Traditional Japanese interiors, as well as modern, incorporate mainly natural materials including fine woods, bamboo, silk, rice straw mats, and paper shoji screens. Natural materials are used to keep simplicity in the space that connects to nature. Natural color schemes are used and neutral palettes including black, white, off-white, gray, and brown.[39]

Interior design has also become the subject of radio shows. In the U.S., popular interior design & lifestyle shows include "Martha Stewart Living" and "Living Large" featuring Karen Mills. Famous interior designers whose work is featured on these programs include Bunny Williams, Barbara Barry, and Kathy Ireland, among others.

Many interior design magazines exist to offer advice regarding color palette, furniture, art, and other elements that fall under the umbrella of interior design. These magazine often focus on related subjects to draw a more specific audience. For instance, architecture as a primary aspect of Dwell (magazine), while Veranda (magazine) is well known as a luxury living magazine. Lonny Magazine and the newly relaunched, Domino Magazine, cater to a young, hip, metropolitan audience, and emphasize accessibility and a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach to interior design.